Southern California -- this just in

'Innocent' man released after 13 years: 'I feel good'

"I feel good, feel blessed," Larsen said Tuesday as
he rode the elevator down to the main floor of the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and family.

After 13 years and appeals at nearly every level of the state and federal court system, Judge Suzanne Segal ordered Larsen's release from prison Tuesday, finding that he
was "actually innocent" of carrying a concealed knife during a 1998 bar
fight in Northridge.

Police alleged that he had tossed the weapon under a car.

Larsen has maintained his
innocence throughout the years and eventually got the California
Innocence Project to take up his cause.

"It's been a long journey with lots of ups and downs, a roller coaster,"
said Jan Stiglitz, Larsen's attorney and co-director of the California
Innocence Project. "To see him walk out is one of the great moments in
our work."

The Innocence Project's appeal on Larsen's behalf eventually reached
the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The organization found that
several witnesses — including a former chief of police — saw a different
man carrying the knife and toss it before police arrived. Segal
concluded that Larsen was "actually innocent," a legal term that means
that had a jury heard that testimony, Larsen wouldn't have been
convicted.

The conviction was Larsen's third strike and he was sentenced to 27 years to life.

He will remain free as an appeal by the state attorney general's
office works its way through the courts. State officials maintain that
Larsen is guilty and that his appeals violated state deadlines. He was
freed on a $52,500 bond put up by several family members.

"You're being given a rare opportunity here," Segal said. "I hope you
use this opportunity well. Don't violate the trust your family has put
in you. Don't violate the trust the court has put in you."

Although a 9th Circuit judge ordered Larsen's release in 2010, he had languished in prison. A case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court
could settle the technicalities that are keeping Larsen's future in
limbo, so Segal agreed that Larsen should be free in the meantime.

His release is contingent upon several conditions: He must look for a
job, go to anger management courses, undergo a mental health
evaluation, agree to drug tests and not knowingly associate with the
Nazi Low Riders, a white-supremacist gang with which he was previously
associated.

While Larsen awaits an outcome in the Supreme Court case, his attorneys
are going to meet with the Los Angeles County district attorney's office
to discuss resentencing him. Under Proposition 36, approved in
November, Larsen's life sentence for a third strike would be reduced and
he would probably be given credit for time served.

Stiglitz said Larsen wants to work with at-risk teenagers to help them avoid the life he led before prison.